Snowflakes and Songs

This past week has had some interesting events.

First off, it has snowed about once every other day.  Now, J and I being from Minnesota, there's little competition.  The temperature has rarely fallen far below freezing, and the 1" snowfalls typically melt within 24 hours.  It does make for some pretty snowfalls and scenery, and we did learn that they actually have snow plows here (I was quite skeptical of this given the high prevalence of cobblestone streets).

Here is a video of one of the puppies I walk.  He was trying to catch snowflakes during our walk.  Yes, it was this puppy's first winter.  I thought it was quite cute!

Another thing about this week is that J and I have four, count 'em, FOUR choir concerts THIS WEEK!  This is pretty intense for what I am used to with choirs.  This is primarily because J and I are a part of the small group choir as well, which also performs extra concerts this time of year.  Now, to keep things in perspective, this is also high season for the choir.  There are really only four concerts in two weeks, but the small choir tacks on two more.  After this, they will take the rest of December and most of January off, I am told.  Our next concert after December won't be until possibly April or May.

J and I had a concert this past Tuesday and today.  We have two more tomorrow, that we know of.  Here is photographic proof of our small choir concert on Tuesday.  The pictures were taken by her co-workers who attended.

The concert today was interesting.  First, it was in a small, modern looking church.  Second, it was freaking cold in there!  The pews had heat vents beneath them, but the altar area was completely unheated and the cold air seemed to seep in through the huge stain glass window backdrop.  Every choir members' feet were borderline numb by the end of the concert.  Third, I learned a few things about German culture.

About the German culture I learned tonight.  Stateside Americans may not appreciate how big Christmas is in Germany.  Halloween is an imported holiday in Germany, only really celebrated by the current generation for the past 10 years or so.  Thanksgiving is not celebrated in Germany, for obvious reasons.  Around the Autumnal Equinox, a harvest season of sorts is celebrated with "Herbsmarkts."  The next thing after that is Christmas season.

Christmas is truly celebrated as a season here.  Christmas Markets or Weihnachtsmaerkt open as early as late November and go to as late as early January in some places.  This whole time, most town squares are filled with small stands selling Glogg, Gluehwein, candy, chocolate, clothing wares, roasted chestnuts, and other food.  They also have little dances, miniature choral and instrumental concerts, and ornaments everywhere.  Every stereotypical Christmas thing being described in old Christmas carols pretty much is the norm in these markets.

At the concert J and I sung today, most of the music was modern/non-traditional music with Christmas themes.  However, we did two encore pieces.  Both were traditional German Christmas carols.  One of them, Es ist ein Ros Entsprungen, English translated as Lo, How a Rose Ere Blooming, I was familiar with in many church choir settings.  The other, O du froehliche, I was by far unfamiliar.  The small, older congregation seemed to know all of the lyrics for all three verses for both of the songs by heart.  They even started crying at the end of each song.  This was the first concerts I had ever performed in where the audience started crying out of appreciation of the music.

What did I learn?  Christmas means a lot in Germany.

J and I attended an Episcopal Service last Sunday.  Seeing as I'm Roman Catholic and she's Presbyterian, we think it may be a good compromise in the future for children down the road.  On base, we liked the time of the service, 10:30am, and all of the members, however few there were, welcomed us very warmly.  J and my skills as singers may be offered during Christmas time as the congregants was hoping to have a small Christmas music program.  With only about 20 congregants that we know of, the pickings are truly slim.  We hope to attend service there tomorrow, so we'll see if the opportunity presents itself.

In other news, look out world!  I plan on purchasing a new laptop possibly by the end of next week.  We have it picked out, but I want to wait another week to make sure that we can save up to afford it.  I'll update you on this event should it happen as planned.